Paula Abdul Does Double Duty Friday Night on CBS

quotI was approached by the producer of Secret Celebrity Renovation after he got my number through the Lakers organization and as he was giving me a little background on the show halfway through I immediately knew who I wanted to pay this forward to and give gratitude to Dean Barlow pictured at top with Abdul my very first dance teacherquot she said quotSo this was a fullcircle moment for mequotAbdul has known Barlow since he began coaching her at the age of seven and a half and he has remained an integral part of her life and career ever since quotHe39s meant so much to mequot she said of her mentor quotAs a young girl you have your father and then I had my TV father which was Gene Kelly and Dean was the closest male figure in my life As a kid he taught me how to align my heart with my passion and that was dance It was so important at that age I carried it through to my school studies my teenage years and all the way to becoming a worldrenowned choreographerquotHe39s always been in my lifequot she continued quotI had him choreograph the tap sections of my videos I brought him on board to work on the Academy Awards when I was choreographing and I named him as someone else who should be nominated for an Emmy and we both won Emmys together He is the perfect person not only for what he39s done for me and my oldest sister Wendy but for every single person who39s ever lived in the San Fernando Valley and taken a dance class with DeanquotFor Abdul the gift of making over Barlow39s longtime dance studio went beyond paying it forward to just him it extended to her old community quotAs a kid growing up I lived on the intersecting streets of Van Nuys Blvd and Sherman Oaks Parkquot she recalled quotThat was my childhood location amp8230 Going back now the studio was literally the same and needed updating Not only is this paying it back as gratitude for Dean we created a whole new dance studio It was really a room filled with storage so we knocked out walls redid the arts and crafts room and added a camp counselors39 room Along with Sabrina Soto and Jason Cameron we made a beautiful place for kids to be creative and artistic all in Dean39s namequotAbdul39s part in the project didn39t end with a simple subject suggestion it also required her to get her hands dirty quotLet me just say this my talent is in my feet and not my handsquot she laughed of performing manual labor quotYou could have left me throughout an afternoon into the evening and the wee hours of the morning and I39d still be trying to maneuver a sledgehammer I injured myself every step of the way But I had a blast doing it My eyesight isn39t the best and it could have been disastrous Oh and no one told me a sledgehammer weighed like 40 pounds I did learn how to work on a miter saw and that was incredible Jason is a great teacher I39m really much better at interior decorating Still it was a great experiencequotWhile she was working on Secret Celebrity Renovation Abdul was invited to participate in Cedric the Entertainer39s The Greatest AtHome Videos doing something she loves helping to discover new talent quotI watched the first season of his show and loved itquot she admitted quotI39m a big fan of viral videos social media and TikTok and I39d met Cedric a handful of times early in my career It just so happened that when they approached me I had just seen this one video of a babysitter that we surprise singing to the kids that their mother caught on tape I39m telling you the voice that came out of this girl39s mouth is like nothing shy of a perfect Disney Princess What a beautiful voice She would have gotten a golden ticket to Hollywood without a doubtquotFor me doing these kinds of shows is so in my wheelhousequot she added quotI39ve been doing this kind of stuff for what seems like my whole adulthood I love giving back spotting budding talent and making people feel good and both these shows were the epitome of that I also got to teach Cedric some dance moves from my ColdHearted Snake video He had to squirm like a snake and he learned so fast and was spotonquotLast season of ABC39s American Idol saw Abdul return to the judge39s table filling in for Luke Bryan after he contracted COVID19 quotIt was so different going backquot she said of the experience quotI didn39t know how I39d feel about it but once I am in front of talent everything just falls into place That was a lot of funquotPrepandemic Abdul had just completed a Las Vegas residency that was to resume in August of 2020 one she hopes will be restaged in 2022 She also has a few other irons in the fire she39s excited about quotI have a few things in developmentquot she shared in closing quotContracts are almost finalized and hopefully soon I39ll be able to make an announcementquotSecret Celebrity Renovation is telecast Friday at 800 pm followed by The Greatest AtHome Videos at 9 pm both on CBSClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Paula Abdul Does Double Duty Friday Night on CBS

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